I emailed Icytux and Shadesmaster to ask for map titles for their maps, if they don't get back to me in the next couple days Jaws or I will just pick one out (or feel free to submit one if you have a good idea).

I can handle making these, but I'd like if everyone could check and make sure they're okay with their map name so I can do them all at the same time.

Share this post

Link to post

I sent you a PM. I've also sent out a ton of PM's requesting names for the unnamed maps & also new map names for all of the combined map names. 9 of those map names were updated just yesterday by their authors.

Share this post

Link to post

Yeah, if anyone wants to take a crack at the R, please do. My skills are limited to copy-pasting stuff and hand-drawing stuff by pixel. Unfortunately copying other parts of the letters and rotating them really messes with the pixels (when done so diagonally). Hence the screwy R.

Share this post

Link to post

Anyway, I didn't find any bugs, although I played through E1 and have some comments:
-I'm not as intimately familiar with the E3/E4 levels as I am the E1 and E2, so I got lost a couple times in some of them and couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do. I guess this is my fault though.
-IMO, this thing is not balanced towards HMP difficulty at all. I usually play on that difficulty but thought it was pretty tough for that, especially in E1M2, so I checked it out and actually found NO meaningful difference between HMP and UV--the pit of shotgunners & zombiemen, the Imp closet in the dark room, the shotgunners at the end--all EXACTLY the same in HMP and UV. They could deal with some toning down for the middle difficulty.
-Similarly, this might just be me but I HATE any time there's a big maze that's also enshrouded in darkness filled with Imps. I hated it in E1M2, and I've hated it in every map since. Throw the light amp goggles in the level somewhere--they're an underused powerup as it is!
-The lines for the central "room" in E1M8 should have "block monster" lines on the outside, preventing the Barons from getting in. Several times, I found myself thinking I'd killed all of them, only to find one or two (or three!) wandering around the rooms inside, and let me tell you--it's NOT fun to fight Barons with a rocket launcher in an enclosed space. (I would have used another weapon, but on a pistol start, there are no other weapons.) Blocking monsters from getting in there would also keep the Pinkies in there, but everyone is going to kill all of them before they get out to the Barons anyway. I also agree that it's difficult to know where the exit is after you kill them all.

Now, I won't claim to be the best Doom player in the world, but I think the opinion of "lesser" players should always be considered. After all, the original game had difficulty levels and pretty drastically altered the monster layouts for each.

I'm about to play through E2 now, so here's hoping I have less trouble with that.

Share this post

Link to post

As far as I can tell, if you spell it one word "switcheroo" it's supposed to have an E, which is why Death Egg spelled it that way. If you parsed it out with hyphens "switch-a-roo" I think it would make more sense with an A. I think we'll stick with E just for consistency's sake.

Share this post

Link to post

Honestly I thought "switcherdoom!" was a better name, a more clever play on words. Then again people werent able to grasp the pun on a map i called named "entrymake", so yeah. We also wouldn't be having any title pic issues with the old name. As it is though, i think switcheroom is okay.

Share this post

Link to post

re name change: I always found "switcheroom" uncatchy, but I've now come to associate it with the project(s). That said, if someone can come up with something better (switchedoom isn't bad), I wouldn't protest a name change.

Should definitely do it before releasing Switcheroom 1, or forever hold our peace, though.

Share this post

Link to post

And you don't even tell me what's so bad about my map. Yeah sure there were lots of little things wrong with it, but can you please have the common courtesy to tell me what's the matter instead of just taking the map off and leaving me to hope I don't make that huge unknown mistake again.

Share this post

Link to post

Specifically, walking over that edge of the box southward opens up the rocket launcher area past the red door (off of the blood room with the rising floors). It's pretty obscure, and I myself reported it as a bug in one of the early bugfix threads, but there ya go).

Share this post

Link to post

And you don't even tell me what's so bad about my map. Yeah sure there were lots of little things wrong with it, but can you please have the common courtesy to tell me what's the matter instead of just taking the map off and leaving me to hope I don't make that huge unknown mistake again.

Hi Flamen0d,

I think overall the map was considered to recreate too many of the original e3m4 iconic room styles/layouts.

Some comments on the version you posted:

When using GSTONE I'd recommend trying to avoid the bricks being cut-off as much as possible. It makes a big difference if ledges, steps etc, have the top of a brick matching the floor lip.

There are a number of other texture and texture alignment choices that I suggest looking at. The stairs from the blue armour room are 16 units high - but STEP1 is best suited to 8units. The SKINLOW textures in the crusher room are all offset by 256 units? which actually puts then roughly 50% out of alignment to what they would be normally.

The opening room door has 2 sectors either side of it which (unless I've missed a specific purpose) should be deleted. It'll look the same and avoiding neighboring sectors like that to doors minimises the chance of the door special not working. The same thing has been done in the 2nd to last room and the room adjoining it. It's not a huge issue and in some cases you want to do this to make use of both upper and lower textures.

With the exception of the very cool looking lava outside the blue key room, the lighting in the map overall needs work (IMO). Again the opening room door, the adjacent secret door and the starting DOOR3 are all brighter than neighboring sectors with no real reason why. I know Doom doesn't always need a reason but a door way being darker than its archway and the adjoining hall/spaces usually looks better. The 3 lower hallways coming off the starting atrium have the same light value as the atrium. Usually for this kind of arrangement one would make them darker by 16-32 units or brighter (but also add in a light source). The 2 high windows from the atrium are brighter but again, no light source. (note: If you go back and check the original e1m4 it does this a bit too)

Flat changes - There are a couple of places where you change the floor tex without changing the floor height. In most cases this does not look so great.

Texture changes - there are a number of spots where I think the texture combinations aren't working. The middle hallway from the starting atrium - The GSTONE & SP_HOT1 really clash I think, more so with no border/seperating texture such as SUPPORT3.

Sector 85 - floor is 8units too low?

Sector 130 - the amount of medkits here seems OTT. Although if the floor was damaging and you spread them out a bit in the nooks ;o)

The step up to the exit door is split into 3 linedefs with BROWNHUG in the middle?

Sector 41 - The atmosphere feels great but I cant help but feel that due to the low ceiling height, the space around the blue key room needs to be bigger.

In terms of the lifts you have in the map. Unless they are a secret, I'd recomment making sure lifts have a different texture, such SUPPORT2 or SUPPORT3 etc. Also I like to make them 8 units lower than the higher landing, again to give some variation to the floor height and texture.

Thing 14 - is a blocking type decoration. Just in case that was not intended?

I hope the above is helpful to you. If it comes across patronising I apologise - that was not intended at all.

Share this post

Link to post

I actually just get a giant HOM in that area playing in zdoom. Hmmm... checking in DB2, yeah, big error. It's null space but the linedefs there are double sided/not impassible, with lower textures but no mid texture. I think someone accidently deleted a sector or something.

EDIT: I think it might be a change Jaws made, I see lots of other changes since the last time I played it (such as turning those cliffs with liquids on top I didn't like from stone to fire to look like falling blood, I suppose). Those aren't in the RC3 version Death Egg released on Jan 10.